Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been more than two hours. There was still no sign of Chloe and something had clearly gone wrong. Very wrong, as evidenced by the fact that the factory grounds were now crawling with people looking for us. Some were familiar, Davidoff was here, Miss Van Dopp and I was pretty sure I’d seen Mrs. Talbot. Then there were others, people I’d never seen before.

“Tori,” Rae whispered far too loudly as we sheltered in a recessed doorway. “Somehow she must have figured out what we were up to.”

“You think?” I muttered back. Chloe had been worried that Tori knew something but whatever had happened it was a lot more complicated than simply someone alerting the staff to our plans.

If that had been the case, why had we been allowed to get out of Lyle House at all? There seemed to be people everywhere looking for us but what really weirded me out was the fact that that Miss Van Dopp was here. If Tori had warned them and they’d had enough time to call Miss Van Dopp in from her weekend away, why hadn’t they just stopped us from leaving in the first place? I didn’t know and that worried me. It wasn’t something I particularly wanted to discuss it with Rae, however.

The person I wanted to talk to about it was Derek, get his take on this. I couldn’t talk to him about it though. Couldn’t because the people at Lyle House had crawled so far into my brother’s head that he was terrified to so much as set foot out the door. Like he was some kind of monster who’d kill everyone around him given the half a chance. I’d never in my life seen Derek as afraid of anything as they had made him of himself. Somewhere along the line they’d convinced him not only that they were right and he was too dangerous to be allowed around people, but also that I was apparently an idiot who didn’t know what I was talking about. Derek dismissed anything and everything I had to say about his so-called “diagnosis”. It was like they’d made sure he wouldn’t trust me any more than he trusted himself. And the longer we were there, the worse it got.

I couldn’t get him to run with me, couldn’t get him to even consider the idea that he might not be some kind of monster or head-case. At the same time, I couldn’t just leave him there, because I knew my brother. He’d fight to the death to protect me or dad, but when it came to himself he’d barely lift a hand. If they decided to start doping him up with God knows what medications or transfer him to a super-max psych ward, he wouldn’t argue or put up any kind of fight. He’d take the pills, go wherever they told him to. The prospect of what he might let happen to him terrified me.

For three months I’d fought to help him see they were wrong.

Over the last week I’d finally come to accept what I’d least wanted to, that there was nothing I could do for my brother anymore. Not from within Lyle House.

Walking out of Lyle House tonight, leaving my brother behind, was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. I knew Derek thought I’d caved because of Chloe. Not to say that she didn’t have a lot to do with it, she did. This whole thing wasn’t just about Derek and I anymore and what could happen to her definitely weighed in the balance. Still, it was just how far Derek had gone to pull her in and to push her at me that finally got me going. Derek almost never took an interest in others and had regarded my various girlfriends with complete and utter apathy. Not Chloe, though. He’d stepped up from the start.

It was clear to me why he was doing it. Yeah, he wanted to help. People skills might not be his strong suit but he wasn’t the type to cross to the other side of the street if he saw someone in trouble either. Once he was sure of what she was he would have felt a responsibility to make sure she knew. What he wouldn’t have done was bring her into our lives the way he had. Talking to her, actually engaging with her, that was out of character enough. The time spent talking between the three of us, like Chloe was a real part of our lives instead of someone outside of it was entirely new.

That he had been willing to bring Chloe in in order to push her at me, break through that rigid us and them view of the world he had just so he could give me some kind of damsel in distress to save… that had been what finally convinced me he was long past my ability to reach him. It was something he wouldn’t have even considered before Lyle House and Gill and all the rest.

Whatever poison the bastards had poured into his ears had left him deaf to anything I had to say and I’d finally seen that leaving him behind to focusing on finding our dad was the only thing I could do for him.

I had to find dad. If anyone could get through to Derek at this point, it would be our dad.

In the mean time that meant not getting caught. Which, at the moment, meaning finding someplace safe to hide until Chloe found us.

Unfortunately, Rae seemed to think that we were playing hide-and-seek or something. Having found a nice, dark recessed doorway, she wouldn’t leave.

I’d never had much of an opinion of Rae before tonight. She was there and that was about it. Now, I was beginning to dislike her. A lot. Not that it mattered at the moment except that we had the world’s suckiest hiding place. I kind of wished I was a little less of a gentleman at that point so I could just leave and let Rae see to her own escape.

The plan had been perfect and had been falling to pieces since the word go. First Derek and now Chloe were missing and I was stuck with Rae with no clue what was happening.

I’d known Derek wasn’t feeling well the evening before and he’d been pale when I’d gone to bed after the movie. I’d actually debated waking him up to see how he was feeling. In the end, I’d let him sleep only to find him gone when his alarm woke me. I’d searched the whole house before I met up with Chloe and Rae. Derek would never have just left us to get out on our own. Sure, he’d given us the codes and detailed instructions on how to disarm the security. That had just been Derek being Derek, making sure all the angles were covered. However, having him flake out at the last minute like this wasn’t at all like him. I’d wanted to look keep looking for him, knowing damn well that something was seriously wrong.

Chloe, however, had insisted that she be the one to stay behind to look for him instead of me.

"What good will it do if I get away and you don't?” she’d asked. “It's your dad. You know how to find him."

"He's my responsibility —"

"Right now, your dad is your responsibility. You can't help Derek — or me— if you can't find him." Chloe’s expression was one I’d been coming to recognize as her uncompromising look. She’d made up her mind and what was more, I knew she was right.

The fact that she had been right had made it all the worse.

So, I’d done what Derek had wanted all along. I’d walked away, leaving him to his fate. I just hoped like hell that he was still at Lyle House after I found dad instead of having being transfered to someplace harder to get him out of.

Movement caught my eye, pulling me out of my thoughts. A figure darted through the shadows along side of a warehouse not far from us. A figure that was far too small to be one of our searchers. I leaned out just a little, careful to keep to the shadows. A bit of light from one of the buildings behind the figure caught on light hair with darker streaks that could only barely be made out as red in the dim light. Still, it was enough.

“It’s Chloe,” told Rae, as I pulled back into the doorway. I didn’t bother even trying to keep the relief out of my voice.

“Finally,” Rae muttered, before stepping out into the open and waving her hand over her head. Telegraphing our location to anyone who happened to be looking.

“Rae…!” I hissed, grabbing her and pulling her back into the doorway with enough force that she nearly lost her feet. “Do you want to get us caught?” I demanded when she glared at me.

There wasn’t a chance for her to answer as Chloe burst into the doorway at that moment, out of breath and pale. I’d opened my mouth to ask her what had happened but the words died unspoken as another figure swung in on her heels.

Something had clearly gone much more wrong than I’d feared. Derek was a mess. He stood there dressed in jeans that were covered in dirt and grass-stains and a t-shirt that was in even worse shape. His sneakers looked like that might be it for them. He was filthy and had apparently left without even bothering to take a sweatshirt or a jacket, much less pack a bag.

I was simultaneously overjoyed to see him and terrified of what it meant that he was here.

Whatever had happened, it had been unexpected and serious enough that he’d just run.

Derek met my eyes and gave a small shake of his head. Right, this wasn’t the time. We’d discuss what happened later when we had room to breathe. I nodded back almost imperceptibly suddenly fighting back a surge of emotion that had me swallowing back tears.

While Derek and I had our silent communication Rae stared at him as if horrified. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be —"

"Change of plans,” he snapped before taking the two steps that brought him to stand beside me.

I didn’t have words for how I felt right then. He’d come after all. Yes, he’d come because something had gone wrong but just at that moment I didn’t care. He was here and that was what mattered.

There wasn’t time to give in to the almost overwhelming relief. So I forced myself to be casual as I slapped his back.

"Good to see you, bro.” The look Derek gave me told me he knew I was full of shit but also that he understood. Of course, he did. No one knew me as well as my brother.

"I was worried Chloe'd never find us,” I continued. “There's a whole bunch of people looking for us."

"I know," he said dryly.

Stepping to the edge of the alcove again I glanced around before walking over to Chloe, handing her her backpack.

"You okay?" She still looked pale but she nodded.

"They have guns," Chloe told us.

I felt the blood leave my face but before I could say anything Rae beat me to it.

"What?" she demanded, voice almost squeaking. "No way. They'd never —"

"Tranq guns," Derek corrected, clearly trying to diffuse Rae’s sudden panic.

"Oh," she said, calming as if it wasn’t at all strange for people to hunt runaway kids with tranq guns. Chloe gave Rae a confused look at her sudden calm, clearly thinking the same thing.

I wanted to demand what exactly had happened. Had one of them been shot? And what the hell? I stared at Derek but he just shrugged, clearly as much at a loss when it came to this development as I was. That was not a good sign.

There wasn’t time for panic right now, his look said.

"Who've you seen?" Derek asked.

Packing away my feelings for later I didn’t hesitate. "Van Dopp, Davidoff, and, I think, Talbot, but I'm not sure. No sign of Gill."

"She's back at the house," Chloe said. There was something in her voice as she said it that told me there was a story there. I was willing to bet it had something to do with why Derek left. More than anyone else at Lyle House, that woman had her claws into Derek the deepest. Whatever had happened, I knew it would have to do with her. Derek wouldn’t have left otherwise. "But there are two more we didn't recognize,” Chloe continued before I could ask any of the questions I had. “A man and a woman." She looked at Derek. "Undercover cops, you think?"

I could actually see the inner conflict in Derek’s expression, though, I doubted anyone else would notice anything. Just because cops weren’t in uniform didn’t mean that they were undercover. That was something else entirely and I could tell that Derek had to restrain himself from explaining that difference. Now wasn’t the time for that either.

"No idea,” Derek said instead. “We'll worry about that later. Right now, we're sitting ducks. We need to get out of here."

He moved over to the edge of the alcove, scanning our surroundings.

"Thanks. For finding him,” I murmured softly to Chloe. I was thanking her for a good deal more than that and I was pretty sure she knew it. I didn’t know how she’d managed to get Derek to come with her. “Was everything okay?"

"Later," Derek said, before Chloe could answer. "There's another warehouse farther back, with broken windows. It's probably abandoned. If we can get to that —"

"Chloe?" Rae said, interrupting. "What's all over your sleeve? It looks like... Oh, my God. You're bleeding. You're really bleeding."

She was staring at the arm I only now realized Chloe had angled away from me. Moving to her other side, I felt sick. Rae wasn’t kidding. The a large part of her sweatshirt’s sleeve was red. "It's soaked. What —?"

"Just a cut," she objected, trying fruitlessly to reassure us.

"It's deep," Derek told us. "She needs stitches."

"I don't —" she started, but he interrupted her.

"She needs stitches," Derek reiterated in his ‘don’t-argue-with-me’ tone. Pushing her sleeve up I couldn’t see the wound itself. It had been bound tightly with strips of fabric. Derek’s doing, no doubt and I didn’t want to risk how much she might start bleeding if I took the makeshift bandages off. It hadn’t done nearly enough, though. "I'll figure something out,” Derek said. “For now —" he broke off before jumping back from the edge of the alcove.

“Shit!” he swore. "They're coming." Looking around us at the entranceway he scowled. "This is the lousiest hiding place."

"I know," I said. "I wanted to find a better one, but..." I glanced toward Rae, every bit of my annoyance clear in my expression I was willing to bet. She just looked back at me with confusion.

"What's wrong with here?" As if to prove what a great hiding place she’d found, she stepped back into the deepest shadows beside the door. "It's completely dark,” she explained. “They won't see me."

"Until they shine a flashlight on you," Chloe said, obviously not wanting to be mean to her friend but clearly no happier with this “hiding place” than Derek or I.

"Oh."

Derek grimaced. We didn’t have a whole lot of options at this point.

He grabbed the door handle and gave it a tug, just in case. It was locked, of course, I’d already checked. Planting his feet apart, Derek braced before taking the handle in in both his hands and pulling with everything he had, which was a lot. For a moment, nothing happened, and my heart jumped into my throat thinking that this lock might be too much for even him. Derek redoubled his efforts, teeth gritted and tendons standing in his neck, he leaned back, throwing his body weight into it as well.

The door gave a small shake before before flying open with a loud bang like thunder or a gun. The suddenness of it had Derek stumbling back, almost falling before regained his balance.

There was no way our searchers wouldn’t have heard that.

Derek motioned for us to get in fast.

“Find cover,” I heard him tell Chloe as she passed him. She gave a sharp nod, not pausing. He didn’t have to tell me what I should do. I already knew. I had zero idea what Rae would do but hoped like hell that whatever it was didn’t get the rest of us caught.

Derek followed the three of us into in a long, wide hallway with doors lining both sides. Some open and some not. Predictably Rae headed for the first door. How stupid was she?

With a pissed off expression, Derek shoved her passed it.

"Keep going!" he almost snarled.

Moving to the front of the group he lead us out of the first hall and into a second that ran perpendicular to the first. Then he motioned us to silence for a moment, listening intently. Rae looked annoyed but Chloe and I remained still, waiting.

As it turned out, super hearing wasn’t actually needed.

"It's open!" a man called. "They came through here."

"We've got to get out," Derek whispered. "Split up. Find an exit. Any exit. Then whistle, but softly. I'll hear you."

Rae looked like she might object to Derek’s taking charge, but as Chloe and I both headed off in separate directions without comment she begrudgingly went as well.

I’d barely lost sight of my companions before a muffled scream had me sprinting back the way I’d come. I found Chloe stumbling back from an open door, a look of horror on her face. When I got up along side her, however, all I could see were shadowy machine parts in the room beyond. Nothing to be afraid of.

Grabbing her, I pulled around her to face me.

"Chloe?”

"Th-there was a man. He —" She took a breath and fisted her hands, pulling back the shreds of her control. "A ghost. A man. He j-jumped onto a saw."

I felt the gorge rise in my throat. There was a circular saw in there that had to be six and a half feet across at least. It was still and quiet now but looking up at it I only could imagine what it would do to a human body. Pulling Chloe against me I pressed her face into my chest, as if I could keep her from seeing horrible things. I couldn’t though. She was a necromancer. She’d always see horrible things.

Derek had told me more than once that necromancers were a precariously balanced race. Too often what they saw could drive them crazy all on it’s own. And the more powerful the necro, the harder it was for them to keep their mental balance. From what Derek had said about what happened in the crawlspace, Chloe was very powerful.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t believed Derek, I had. Now, though, holding Chloe in this darkened building, I realized that I hadn’t really grasped what that would mean. Chloe would always see things like this, there was nothing she or anyone else could do to keep these kinds of traumatic visions away.

Derek came barreling around the corner at stop speed, coming to a halt beside us. He frowned at me holding Chloe. I could almost hear him complaining that now was really not the time.

Chloe pulled away from me, once again composed. "A ghost," she told him. "I'm sorry."

I could see Derek’s scowl darken but, shockingly, he didn’t lay into her.

"Someone heard,” was all he said. “We gotta go."

Turning to run, Chloe froze, looking back into the room. The color that had begun to come back into her face leaving again.

"It's r-repeating. Like a film loop.” She seemed to shake it off. “Never mind. We —"

“Have to go," Derek growled, all but shoving Chloe past the room. "Move!"

We’d only just taken off when a loud whistle came from an accent hallway.

"Did I say softly?" Derek muttered.

Rae wasn’t far and we found her standing in front of a door conveniently labeled ‘EXIT’ in big red letters.

She reached to open it, no doubt to fling it wide. Luckily, Derek got there first.

"Don't!"

He cracked the door to peer around. He leaned his head away from Rae so she wouldn’t see that he was sniffing the air as well as looking around and listening. That was normal. Anything to keep people from knowing or even guessing what his race was. What did surprise me was that he seemed only concerned about keeping Rae from seeing. I glanced at Chloe who watched, waiting for Derek’s all clear. She didn’t seem surprised and Derek didn’t seem to care whether she saw or not.

Yeah, I’d clearly missed something here.

Too bad we weren’t in a situation to find out what.

Having determined that it was safe to do so, Derek swung the door wide.

"See that warehouse?"

"The one, like, a mile back there?" Rae asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Quarter mile, tops,” he said. “Now go. We're right behind —"

He stopped, head snapping back the way we came, listening.

"They're coming. They heard the whistle. You guys go. I'll distract them, then follow.”

Was he kidding? He’d talked me into leaving him once and even though he’d joined us anyway, that guilt still ate at me. I wasn’t leaving him behind again. Ever.

"Uh-uh. I've got your back,” I told him. “Chloe, take Rae and run."

Derek was going to ague, of course, and we didn’t have time for that.

"You want distractions?" I spoke an incantation, waving my hang outward to direct the spell. The familiar pull of power flowed out of me and fog rose up, blocking the view of the hallway beyond. "I'm your guy."

"Go,” he told Chloe. “We'll catch up."

Rae had already darted out the door and was bouncing on the balls of her feet some twenty feet from us, waiting impatiently for Chloe to join her.

Derek pushed in between myself and Chloe. "Get in the warehouse and don't leave,” he told her. “For one hour, don't even peek out. If we don't come, find a place to hole up. We'll be back."

"Count on it," I said nodding.

"Don't stay in the warehouse if it's dangerous,” he continued. “But that'll be our rendezvous point. Keep checking in. If you can't stay, find a way to leave a note. We will meet you there. Got it?"

Chloe nodded.

A shout rang out from far too close to be comfortable. "They must be back here. Search every room."

Derek shoved Chloe unceremoniously through the door.

I leaned out before it closed. "I'll see you soon," I mouthed her way, giving her a thumbs up. Derek and I could handle this.

I’d been scared when I’d left Lyle House but as I turned back to the fog filled hallway and stepped up beside my brother, I wasn’t scared any longer.

"Show time,” I told him with a grin.

We had this. Between the two of us… Yeah, we totally had this.